The present invention relates to a processing system for small items of manufacture and, in particular, to a modular processing system for the production of batteries.
Items of manufacture, and, in particular, small items of manufacture requiring multiple processes during their production and which are produced in large quantities, such as dry cell batteries, are completed by passing the articles through a series of individual apparatuses which are specifically designed to perform one or two processes. These processing machines are often stand-alone units which operate on a bulk input/bulk output basis. This type of system is labor intensive, and lacks the capability for adequate quality control, rapid maintenance, or tracking of the manufactured articles.
Current processing equipment which typically operates in an indexed manner has a single main drive motor which drives the indexer as well as driving the application heads performing the specific process. These various operations conducted by the machines are mechanically timed and are controlled by mechanical cams. Such mechanical timing is time-consuming to setup, is not flexible, and may lack precision. Any malfunction of these machines generally requires the entire machine to be pulled off-line for time-consuming repair, thus resulting in undesirable production efficiency.
The bulk-in/bulk-out manner in which these machines operate is such that the battery cans are extracted in random fashion from a bin thereby requiring proper orientation to begin the processing and are then output from the machine into another bin after processing. The processed cans are then transported in bulk to another processing station whereupon the bin extraction and article orientation functions are again repeated thus duplicating unnecessary handling and time consuming operations. Others of these machines operate on a theory of back pressure wherein the battery cans are stacked and urged to a processing station by applying a force to the backed up cans to force the articles through the processing machine. There must always be a supply of battery cans on the input side to maintain sufficient pressure to keep the xe2x80x98pump primedxe2x80x99 thereby facilitating processing throughput. Such methods of input and output preclude the tracking of individual battery cans during processing and between discrete machines. The manufacturer therefore loses information about individual cans between product assembly or processing steps. A consequence of the random input and output is a loss of quality control on individual articles with the result being that there is little to no process data available on the articles, and what data is available is not in alignment with quality control samples taken from the processing line.
At the conclusion of the quality control sampling, the machine is again stopped and again unloaded by hand. This time-consuming but necessary function often results in a significant loss of valuable production time in addition to the excessive labor costs associated therewith. Additionally, repeated starting and stopping of the machine induces variation in the production process which can adversely affect production quality.
The current mechanically controlled machines often include one or more cams to transfer desired time sequenced motion to the processing apparatuses mounted to the machine for a desired synchronized operation. In addition to the single drive motor driving the processing apparatus, the motor also operates and drives a large mass circular dial which transports the battery cans therearound to the individual process stations on the machine. Typically, these large mass dials require a significant percentage of the power consumed by the machine to accelerate and decelerate the dial during the indexing operations. Power thus expended contributes little xe2x80x98value addedxe2x80x99 to the finished product. Also, the acceleration and deceleration of large mass dials requires a significant portion of the total time of operation which therefore severely limits the throughput of the processing machines.
The aforementioned current processing equipment employs separately controlled process stations in which battery cans were randomly dumped from one machine to another, thereby eliminating any ability to track a given battery can. Additionally, in order to conduct experimental process operations, conventional manufacturing systems commonly require that the normal system operation first be shutdown, the experimental equipment then be installed, and the experimental process thereafter conducted. Once the experimental operation is finished, the conventional system is reconfigured for normal article manufacturing. Thus, experimental processing required extensive shutdown time and labor to reconfigure the system and conduct the experimental process.
Therefore, there is a desire and need in industry and particularly in dry cell battery processing for a processing system which can operate at increased throughput and which eliminates unnecessary handling and duplicative operations to be performed on the manufactured articles. The needed processing system has the additional characteristics of being flexible, permitting off-line set-up and calibration, the ability to be quickly deployed, and capable of rapidly incorporating product design changes. Such a system is also desired to more efficiently monitor quality control on processes, including the capability of tracking a single item of manufacture through the processing system, and also the ability to test new processes and processing equipment for a comparative analysis of articles of manufacture processed normally with articles of manufacture processed with one or more test processes.
Also, it is desirable to provide for a processing system that allows for battery cans to be tracked and accounted for throughout the entire processing operation. Further, it is desirable to provide for such a processing system that allows for easy experimental processing that does not require excessive system shutdown and labor.
One aspect of the present invention is a high speed manufacturing system for processing articles of manufacture wherein processes are to be performed on the articles at a pre-selected processing rate. The system includes a trunk for simultaneously conveying a plurality of the articles of manufacture at the pre-selected processing rate in a first mode of motion from the beginning of the manufacturing system to the end of the system. At least one branch processing station is positioned intermediate the beginning and the end of the trunk. The branch processing station, during its operation, performs at least one process on the articles of manufacture conveyed on the branch processing station wherein the articles are conveyed in a second mode of motion. At least one transfer device is positioned intermediate the trunk and the branch processing station to continuously extract articles of manufacture from the trunk and transition the movement of the extracted articles of manufacture from the first mode of motion to the second mode of motion for transfer to the branch processing station. The transfer device also extracts each of the processed articles of manufacture from the branch processing station and transitions the movement of the articles from the second mode of motion to the first mode of motion for transfer to the trunk.
Another aspect of the present invention is a distributed control system for controlling the manufacturing system having a trunk and at least one branch processing station. The distributed control system includes a coordinating controller for monitoring processing of each article of manufacture on the manufacturing system and for coordinating the processing of each article of manufacture. A process station controller is networked with the coordinating controller and is associated with each branch processing station for initiating the processes performed thereon for each article of manufacture. A process module controller is associated with each individual process module on each processing station and is networked with the process station controller. The process module coordinator controls the processing operation of the associated process module wherein the control coordinator coordinates the processing operation of each article of manufacture, the processing controller initiates control operations, and the process module coordinator performs individual control operations associated with each process module.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is a method for processing articles of manufacture comprising the steps of conveying a plurality of articles of manufacture in a substantially continuous motion from a beginning of a manufacturing system to an end of the manufacturing system; transferring the plurality of articles of manufacture sequentially onto a branch processing station; conveying the plurality of articles of manufacture on the branch processing station in an indexed intermittent motion to provide a dwell operation and an indexed operation; and performing at least one process on the articles of manufacture during the dwell operation.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is a transfer device for extracting articles of manufacture from a trunk operating in a first mode of motion and transferring the articles of manufacture for processing to a branch processing station operating at a second mode of motion and for returning processed articles of manufacture to the trunk. The transfer device includes a first portion having a first drive source operating at the first mode of motion, and a second portion having a second drive source operating at the second mode of motion. A conveyor assembly extends around the first portion and the second portion and is supported in an operative configuration for transporting articles of manufacture between the first portion and the second portion. An accumulating member separates the first portion from the second portion and is responsive to the first mode of motion of the conveyor assembly on the first portion and is responsive to the second mode of motion on the second portion.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is a branch processing station for a high speed manufacturing system for performing manufacturing processes on articles of manufacture. The branch processing station includes a continuous feed indexer having a transport mechanism for conveying the articles of manufacture along the branch processing station in an indexed intermittent motion wherein at least a portion of the transport mechanism is arcuate and conveys the articles of manufacture in an arcuate fashion. Each of the articles of manufacture is received by the transport mechanism at a single tangential point along the arcuate portion while the transport mechanism is in motion. At least one process module is mounted to the indexer for performing the at least one process on the articles of manufacture.
Another aspect of the present invention is a process module for mounting to a high speed manufacturing system to perform a manufacturing process on articles of manufacture wherein the articles are under control of the manufacturing system. The process module includes a chassis having a base and a processing mechanism mounted to an exterior of the chassis for performing a process on the articles of manufacture. The chassis further includes an acquiring mechanism to place the article of manufacture under control of the process module and to place the processing mechanism in an operative position with respect to the article of manufacture for performing the process thereon. A control element is also associated with the chassis wherein the control element directs the acquiring mechanism to gain control of the article of manufacture and directs the processing mechanism in a tasking sequence of placing the processing mechanism in the operative position with respect to the article of manufacture. The control element directs performance of the process by the processing mechanism and disengages the processing mechanism from the article of manufacture to return control of the article to the manufacturing system.
Another aspect of the present invention is a processing conveyor system for processing articles of manufacture. The conveyor system includes a transport conveyor for transporting the articles of manufacturing from a beginning of the system to an end of the system. At least one article segregator junction is intermediate the beginning and the end and an article segregator is positioned at the article segregation junction for segregating the articles of manufacture from the transport conveyor. At least one article integrator junction is positioned downstream from the article segregator junction and an article integrator is positioned at the article integrator junction for integrating the articles of manufacture onto the transport conveyor. An article processing conveyor is positioned between the article segregation junction and the article integration junction.
These and other advantages of the invention will be further understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art by reference to the following written specification, claims, and appended drawings.